Introduction to Becoming a Poshmark Masteress: A Glossary of Terms

Using Poshmark is easy and (a little too much) fun. But, making the most of your Poshmark account can be a little more difficult and downright daunting at times. But, it doesn’t have to be so overwhelming, and I think that if you learn the language of Poshmark, it can lead you down a path of enlightenment… and make you the recipient of extra income.In this article, I want to focus on important Poshmark terms to help you begin to see the bigger picture of how it all works. These terms confused me when I first downloaded the app, and knowing them right off the bat can help you hit the ground running as a member of the Poshmark community. The words below are in alphabetical order, and I tried to include everything that wasn’t immediately obvious to me when I started. If you are confused about a term that isn’t on this list, write it in the comments and I’ll update the article to include it.

BOUTIQUE: A boutique in Poshmark is basically the same as a brick-and-mortar boutique, except the clothes are usually available for less and shoppers don’t get to try them on. Poshers can gain the ability to mark eligible clothing as “boutique” once they’ve sold ten listings and have over 100 listings in their closet. For clothing to be eligible, they have to be new with tags and “available for the first time.” In other words, they’re bought from a wholesaler. Once a Posher is accepted into the boutique program, she or he can purchase from wholesalers directly through Poshmark. I haven’t tried this yet, but I have seen tons of beautiful and oh-so-tempting boutique listings.

CLOSET: Your “Closet” includes the items you list and your items that have been sold. It may also include filler listings, such as Follow Games, announcements, and signs that notate which types of listing you have for sale. Anyone who uses Poshmark can see your closet. Closets can be sorted and filtered by the viewer, and the default view is to show the most recently shared items on the top of each closet. This is cool because you can arrange your closet so your most attractive items are at the top.

CLOSET CLEAROUT: Closet Clearout (which I’ve also seen referred to as simply “CC”) is a brief promotional period designated by Poshmark during which they offer discounted shipping when you drop your price to at least ten percent below your lowest historical price.

FEED: Your Posh feed shows listings from the people and brands you follow, as well as party announcements, and Poshmark announcements. Unlike some other selling apps, Poshmark does not include advertisements, so you spend all of your time looking at stuff that is available through Poshmark without getting distracted by that pair of sunglasses you checked out last week.

FOLLOW: This is an extremely important concept. On Poshmark, you can follow a user or a brand. When you “follow” someone, you will see their listings and shares on your Poshmark feed, and they will be notified that you follow them. When you follow a brand, you’ll see listings of items made by that brand on your feed, regardless of whether you follow the user who listed them. Similarly, people can follow you, and you’ll be notified when they do that. You can see who you follow and who follows you from your Profile page. It’s not unusual for someone to follow thousands of people on Poshmark, so follow away!

FOLLOW GAME: Anyone can create a follow game on Poshmark. A “follow game” is a fun, community-oriented way to gain followers and find new people to follow for yourself. To play a follow game, you simply like the follow game by tapping the heart, then you tap on the names beside the heart to see a full list of who else has liked it. Then, you scroll through the list that comes up and tap the blue “Follow” button next to each user’s name. Because you liked it, your name will now be on the list and all of the users who like it after you will follow you when they scroll through the list. If you want to create your own follow game, make a new listing, select a picture you like, then throw the follow game out into the Poshmark world and see how it goes. Many people share and re-share their follow games to try to get more followers, and also lower the price so that the program notifies the current followers (See “news” to understand more about this idea).

LIKE: When you “like” a listing, that means you’re pretty interested in it and want to keep an eye on it. When the listing changes, Poshmark notifies people who have liked that listing. In other words, if you “like” that Calvin Klein dress you saw for $18 and then the Posher who listed it drops the price to $15, you’ll get a notification. People who like your listings will get notifications, too.

NEWS: Poshmark “news” is different than your feed. Your news revolves around your account and includes notifications that someone followed you, liked a listing, made an offer, made a purchase, or commented on a listing. This is a good go-to spot to get a good idea of what activity happened between your Poshing sessions.

PARTY: You’ll often see “invites” to “parties” in your news feed. Parties happen on specific days at specific times, and they revolve around a certain look, a certain type of clothing, or a few similar designers. Users share their listings to the party, and other users get to see those listings when they “go” to the party. When you go to a posh party, you tap on the party notification in the app and are taken to a screen where those shared listings within the party’s theme continuously populate.

POSH AMBASSADOR: A posh ambassador is a person who has been on Poshmark for long enough to have made at least ten sales, shared at least 5,000 listings, and has 100 listings of their own. There are a few other requirements, but those are the basics. In other words, if you have done what Poshmark deems to be evidence that you are taking the business of selling clothes seriously, then you can be a Posh ambassador. When you become one, you don’t have to do anything, but it is good motivation to welcome new Poshers by commenting on their first listings and help out by making some shares.

SHARE: Posh LOVES sharers. You can “share” your listings and other people’s listings that you like. When you share, that’s basically like you shouting, “Hey, look at this!” and holding up a top or a pair of shoes you like. When you share any item, that item will show up in your followers’ feeds. And, if you share items that were listed by another user, they’ll be notified that you shared it (similarly, you’ll be told when others share your listings). If someone else shares your listing, that means it can show up in their users’ feeds. In other words, if someone who has, like, 200,000 followers shares your listing, that’s awesome exposure!

Poshmark is a place for community building, and there are many dedicated and courteous professional sellers on there. Some people complain because others can be rude and/or annoying. And of course, you’ll see some creepers. But they’re everywhere, aren’t they? I use caution, just as I do in my other daily activities, and so far have only encountered one, whom I ignored and reported. (No, it’s not “no big deal” and absolutely should not be taken lightly, but I refuse to let sexual predators and the threat of sexual predators stop me from achieving what I want to achieve.)

But, I digress. Poshmark is a great place to make a little extra money, and it’s fun to sell clothes on there. There are many terms and habits to learn if you want to kick butt, and I hope this was a good introductory list for you! As I said above, please feel free to ask about other terminology in the comments below.

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”